The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 9

S-lfl THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR 500 EXTRA Hey, ABC! More shots of the wives, if you please out for vou, there's always Jack i-C -1 Sports On The Air By JOHN O'NEILL I really have only one complaint about ABC's coverage of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race: Not enough shots of the drivers' wives. Yep. we just didn't see Teresa Fittipaldi often enough. Same goes for Shelley Unser. Oh.

sure, when their husbands. Emerson Fittipaldi and Al Unser were dueling for the lead in the last 15 laps or so. you probably thought you saw nothing but the wives. Still. I'm sure we actually saw just the right amount of them, since I trust ABC implicitly.

When Al Jr. and Fittipaldi tagged tires and Al Jr. spun into the wall, the first thing we saw was the reaction of the wives. As we wondered if Al Jr. was OK.

and if Fittipaldi would be able to finish the race, we didn't see the or Terre Haute, you know what I'm talking about. You also know that ABC's camera work was outstanding. As the drivers revved their engines before the we saw shot after shot of the eyes of the drivers, as each sat in his car and pondered what the next three hours would bring. None of the drivers seemed to know when they were on camera, except Fittipaldi, who gave a thumbs-up to the camera. A lot of the race was like that.

There was so much to see that it was sometimes just a roll of the dice whether we'd see a crucial moment as it happened. Compounding the problem were the commercials, which also served to constantly deflate any dramatic tension. ABC missed Michael Andrel- ti's engine failure because it happened during a commercial. On the other hand, they just happened to be using the camera in Al car at the instant he and Fittipaldi brushed tires. Viewers saw the initial jolt before ABC cut away.

Eventually. ABC went back and showed the entire accident from that camera, and from several different angles as well. We also just missed seeing Kevin Cogan's crash near the end of his second lap By the time ABC cut to the accident, we saw half of Cogan's car sliding into the pit entrance. Since half the car was missing, and since the disemboweled engine was just sort of bouncing along next to Cogan's head, it was a little weird to hear Paul Page yell, "once again, a tribute lo the safety of these cars." But since Cogan was able to walk away from the wreck, you knew what he meant. Etefore the race, we saw a touching bit on the Bettenhau-sen family, and the hard luck Gary has faced trying to fulfill his father's dream.

"The most important thing in my dad's life was winning Indianapolis, and he never did, and he died Gary said. "And now it's the most important thing in my life. It's almost too late to quit It was a nice story, guaranteed to make the undecided viewer pull for Bettenhausen. So when he dropped out during the pace lap, because of valve trouble, we didn't have to guess how we felt. But in case you really need things spelled Arute.

one of ABC's pit reporters. How do you feel Arute asked. "I have to start counting days again. It's a long wait until next year." Bettenhausen replied, showing the grace that Arute had not. And there were other times when drivers gave nice replies to reporters who asked bad questions, or really didn't ask questions at all.

"Emerson, you're the Indy 500 champion in 1989." Arute told Fittipaldi as he arrived in Victory Lane. Fittipaldi did not look surprised, having already seen the checkered flag. "I dreamed so much of this ever since I was a little boy." he said, and he began to cry. drivers. We saw the wives, wondering the same thing we were wondering.

I'm getting ahead of myself here, since most of you reading this didn't see ABC's coverage of the race. WRTV (Channel 6) couldn't carry the race live and won't show it until June 11. at 11:30 p.m. But if you were able to watch the race on the ABC affiliates in Elkhart. Evansville.

Fort Wayne Last-row starters Jones, Ifogler kept moving up 6th-place finish thrills Brayton Scott Brayton. driving the No. 22 Amway-Speedway-Uniden (because of car parts scattered at the entrance). I had to go three Buick-powered Lola, finished the laps under the yellow with a flat day just as he started in sixth tire." When he was able to pull into the pits, the crew changed rub ber and that and tucl were the only things they stopped for place. When the checkered flag was waved, however.

Brayton was seven laps behind winner Emerson Fittipaldi. Said Bray-ton "We honked the I Waliilf SV 1 Tit- iiiili ii Usssj By BILL PICKETT STAR STAFF WRITER The last shall be well, not quite first. But Davy Jones and Rich Vo-gler, both of whom started Sunday's Indianapolis 500 breathing the exhaust of 30 other cars, gave their best efforts in an attempt to overtake the entire field and finish first. Jones, driving a 1988 Lola Cosworth sponsored by Euro-motorsports and Uno. "had a really good ride" and moved steadily up through the field from 31st to finish seventh.

Vogler, who learned how his Byrd's CafeteriaBryant '88 MarchCosworth would behave as he progressed in the race from the 33rd and final position, got settled in and finished just behind Jones in eighth place. Both completed 192 laps. It wasn't so long ago, however, that neither entertained much hope of being in this" year's field. Jones had planned to devote most of his time driving formula sports cars on the IMSA (International Motor Sports Assocai-tion) circuit, and in a couple of weeks he will be driving in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. "My ride was kind of a last-rrrinute thing," he said of his second "500" appearance.

He started and finished 28th in 1987 and was the fastest rookie qualifier at 208.1 17 mph. But he admitted, "I still consider myself a rookie here." He completed 34 laps in 1987. "I was happy starting in back and I learned things as I went along," Jones said. His only problem, he pointed -k out, came after just two laps when he cut a tire going through debris left when Kevin Cogan hit the outside wall and spun down across the track coming out of Turn 4. "My right front tire was cut and we couldn't go into the pits the rest of the day.

"Nothing but rubber and fuel," Jones said. "It went just really good. The car ran great, it was a fine team effort." Vogler. who qualified for the last four 500-Mile Races, got into the 73rd running at the last moment. He went out as time was getting short last weekend and turned 213.239.

knocking Johnny Rutherford from the field and earning the final spot for himself. "I had only one lap in the before qualifying." said Vogler. who owns five United States Auto Club midget titles and captured the 1980 USAC sprint championship. "I didn't have too many miles in the car before today, but I got 500 today and that's what counts." he added. Actually, he was a few miles short at 192 laps, but there's no doubt he could have gone the distance, "The car worked pretty good," Vogler said.

"It pushed a little at first but we dialed it in as we went along. Machinists Union cars have a good finishing record, I wasn't worried about that." His only worry, he said, was" that someone else might take him out of the race. But his only close call came minutes into the race when Cogan spun in front of him. "I was four cars behind Kevin and saw him when he started spinning," Vogler related. "1 got through that all right and my only trouble after that was running over a hose in the pits.

I. was given a stop-and-go penalty because of that." Brayton air-jack on the steel plate my last pit stop, and it cost me fourth (place)." Steel plates have been laid on top of the newly paved pits to prevent the air-jack plungers rom sticking in the soft asphalt. In his first finish at lndy since 1983. the Coldwater. driver was the top finisher of the six Buick-powered cars.

This is Brayton's best finish of his eight "500" appearances, topping his previous best effort of ninth in 1983. "We had boost failure at the start, then it was bad vibrations." said Brayton. 39. "Next we blistered our right-side tires. It was a struggle all day long." Added Brayton.

"We had to overcome tremendous mechanical difficulties. I'm just thrilled with our finish." Brayton said he had a few exciting moments with traffic and was given "chop-jobs" by a few of his fellow competitors. Brayton refrained from mentioning specific drivers. Laughingly referring to his first-lap incident of last year in which his race ended in the Turn 2 wall, Brayton said. "I made it through the No.

2 turn real nice and easy this year. "Don't get me wrong, I'm very pleased with my finish. I think I showed great patience and drove a very smooth race in spite of our mechanical STAR PHOTOKERRY KEATING Davy Jones, who started the race in 31st place, is congratulated after finishing seventh. Mario quietly earns fourth-place finish in spite of usual luck Electrical woes hamper '69 winner's efforts I By CURT CAVIN STAR STAFF WRITER Mario Andretti's ride in Sunday's Indianapolis 500 may have been the quietest in Andretti his- tory. The 1969 Indy champion was not in the spotlight after suffering electrical difficulties with his No.

5 martHavoline Lola Chevy. The problem cost him zipped by in the middle part of the race. "The clue when it started to go haywire was when the fuel counter quit." Andretti said. "Anytime I had to lift off the thmitc in tmft'in fh pnrfinf crew made several subtle adjustments. "The car was consistent the whole race." he said.

"I think we did a good job on the setup. If we hadn't had the problem, we'd have been in good shape. It would have been me and Mike (son Michael Andretti) at the end." As it turned out. neither got to see Fittipaldi and Al Unser Jr. tangle in Turn 3 on Lap 199.

Michael, who led 35 laps of the race, was out of his car following a blown engine on Lap 162. Mario was tooling around the speedway several laps behind the leaders when the mishap occurred. "I didn't even see it." Mario said of the dramatic accident. Yet he knew the ramifications. Little Al had bumped Mario from the lead at Long Beach' in April and eventually took the checkered flag in a finish very similar to Sunday's.

"Well, what can I say? It was one of those things that just-happened." Andretti said. "I'd really better not say anything about it." Mario had plenty to be optimistic about as the race began. Starting from the middle of the second row. he was up lo the third spot by Lap 10. which was run under the yellow because of Kevin Cogan's accident.

By Lap 20. the Nazareth. resident was in second place behind Fittipaldi. He moved up a notch when Fittipaldi pitted on Lap 35, but the lead was brief as Mario pitted for fuel and fresh tires. At Lap 50, father Mario was in third behind son Michael.

The former never fell from the top five until his long stop. "Both the cars mine and Michael's were running good and we could handle the situations," Mario said. "(Michael) really had a chance to win it. Obviously, I know how he feels. "But I was six laps back, and I just tried to pick up as much (ground) as I could.

The surface was fantastic and it was a very competitive and safe race." Mario was missing from the top-10 list for the middle portion of the event, falling to 1 7th place at one point. It wasn't until Lap 140 that the father-son team was back among the 10 fastest cars at Indy. Mario's climb up the ladder peaked on Lap 180 when he reached the fourth spot While Michael will remember 1989 as a year thai almost was. STAR STAFF PHOTO JOHN WARNER nearly four minutes in the pits while his crew makes several died. I either had full throttle or no throttle.

That killed me in traffic. "That we came back to finish fourth (completing 193 laps) shows that the car was very capable of going well." The 49-year-old Andretti had stepped into the lead on Lap 35. just a few circuits before his mechanical troubles began. He had inherited the front spot when eventual champion Emer- -son Fittipaldi headed to the pits. It was short-lived fame for Mario, however, because on Lap 't0 he had to sit in the pits for nearly four minutes while his Mario Andretti endures changes.

Mario will probably reflect on Sunday's race as the "500" that never materialized. The mechanical woes, however, did not seem to dampen the spirits of the 25-year Indy veteran. "As long as I stay young I'm going to keep trying to win this thing." he said. JOHN ANDRETTI'S bid for a strong lndy run Sunday ended alter 61 laps. Andretti's Tuneup Masters Oranatclli LolaBuick finished 25th because of engine failure.

But a Lap 35 adventure upset him the most. "I made a mistake in the pits that cost us," John said. "In taking off I hit a metal plate under Tom (Sneva's) air jack and got the ear sideways. "It was a car that could have finished in the lop five if I would have stayed out of trouble. Unfortunately.

I didn't 4.